Sunday, November 23, 2014

Wow, it's been like radio silence over here. We have had a very busy fall. We have been playing soccer.

I'm actually going to really miss that. It was so fun and cute, and he improved so much as the season passed. Not the biggest or most skilled on his team, but definitely a smart little player.

We went on our first family vacation!

I'm sorry I didn't write more about this little face when we walked up to Legoland:

Or this face chasing after her brother in the giant sequoia forest:

We have been learning to ride a bike with no training wheels!

We have been learning some songs, and a lot of new words. We have been going to music class, having a great time at school, applying for kindergartens, not getting potty trained, jumping on the trampoline, playing outside, getting accident reports from school, learning how to count (to 100 for Jonah, to 3 for Gracie), going to local festivals, reading, going to the library, making a mess, laughing, irritating the dog, irritating the neighbors, generally having a fun and busy time. We are rarely bored around here, for better or worse.

With all of that going on, I've felt bad that I haven't had time to put together any formal, Pintrest-y, Thanksgiving activities for our family. Not one book about the first Thanksgiving, and not one "I'm thankful for..." activity. But yesterday while we were walking around the Renaissance festival, Jonah showed true thankfulness for the 2 little prizes he won. When I told him he couldn't play any more games he didn't whine or cry. He just said, "Well, at least I have my 2 prizes, right?" I'm not sure where he got such a thankful spirit for the things he has, but I was pretty proud of him right then. We got some good ones, and I am surely thankful for them.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Today was Jonah's first day of prek 4. That means he's going to school 5 days a week for the first time. He is super excited. He loves his school. I'm excited for him, I really am. He has great friends and great teachers. But man, I'm going to miss hanging out with that kid. He told me this morning he wants to be a race car driver and a singer when he grows up. And also a bubble blower at the hospital. I told him I think the name for that is a rec therapist.

Anyway, he went straight to the handwriting table with his friend Isobel and never looked back. Glad one of us is ready.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

(I wrote this a month ago, and was waiting to attach pictures before I posted. Apparently Jonah will be 5 before that happens, so here it goes pictureless.)

Dear Jonah:

The other day you asked me if I wanted you to be three forever. I said not forever, but maybe a little longer. Three was really fun. You became a great friend, a hilarious joke teller, and a sweet brother. You told me, " Well, I have to be four." So true. I'm looking forward to it, but here are some great things that happened while you were three.

I love how every night we have to tell Bo-Bo stories. "Daddy, where was the Bo-Bo in that story?" You are obsessed with hearing about other people's injuries. You are either my future doctor or a future sociopath.

I love going on long bike rides with you.

I love watching you learn to write your name

I love how every night you tell me, "I love you, Mommy. You're a sweet girl."

I love how you won't flush the downstairs toilet so you don't wake up you're sister, but you will stand at the top of the stairs and bellow for me with little regard for nap time.

I love when you, daddy, and Gracie play Jeep.

I love how you think the song, "Go on take your money and run" is about people running from some bad guys.

I love all the words you make up, like "huge-antous" (meaning really big) "han-itizer" (hand sanitizer) and "engine turtles".

I love how effortlessly you play with your baby sister on her level. You play chase, share cars, and let her jump on top of you.

I loved taking you to the amusement park for the first time. I still can't believe you rode on all those fast spinning rides!

I love how you run down the street to talk to the neighbors every time you see them: "Tiiiiiim!"

I love that I've watched more Nascar in the past 3 months than I ever have before in my life: "Mom, when I grow up I'm gonna be a racer. So I'm going to need to buy a race car."

I love that you are such a great friend to your friends Pax and Isobel. I love the innocence and fun of the sunshine room in general.

I love how you try to pull Gracie back in the tub every night to keep playing when Daddy is trying to get her out.

I love how every night brushing your teeth you say you're a T-Rex and you're going to eat me up!

I love that you are becoming so responsible and helpful. You can put on your clothes by yourself, get in the car, and help hold your sisters hand when we cross the street.

I love how you blame everything on your imaginary friend Annie.

I love that you could have a conversation with a wall (and have several times when no one else would listen to you).

I love that you've promised all sorts of self improvements, like not sucking your thumb, when you turn four

I have kind of been off of facebook lately (since I believe it is contributing to my hatred for humanity and my brain deterioriation.) Seriously though, it really is a terrible habit. The downside is I have had no medium for which to brag on my kids, so this will be my big brag for the next few months.

Can I just say that I am so proud of these 2? They are just so great in every way: they are funny, smart, sweet, and the cutest things ever.

(I mean, they're maniacs. They are loud, high-maintenance, demanding, dramatic, and strong willed. Let's keep it real. But they're my little monsters and I wouldn't have them any other way.)

I just could not be more proud of Jonah. (Clearly he is having a good day today if I'm writing this!) The things he thinks and puts together are just so hilarious. The other day he told me, "Mom, you know where fresh milk comes from? From cows. And their babies can drink it too because there's milks in their tummies in those little hole thingies. And the baby cows can drink it." OR "Beetles high 5 with their backs, because they don't have hands. So they use their backs instead." Every day it is some strange, funny, random idea that he puts together.

He is really just a great kid too. (I mean, when he's not punching me in an attempt at tickling, or body slamming his sister who can barely walk straight, or just flat out telling us "NO" when asked to do something. Again, keeping it real.) But most of the time, he really takes pride in being independent and responsible. He wants to be kind and helpful, and most of the time he is. His teacher told me, "He is empathetic, he never wants to hurt anyone's feelings. The kids just fight over who gets to play with him. I mean, he's just a great kid." Wow, that had me tearing up a little. What a great compliment. And this was his award from summer camp last week:

MOST HUMBLE

I about fell out of my chair when I saw that. Not a word I would typically use to describe my child. When you give him a compliment he responds with, "I know." But the counselors at his camp saw a special side of him, and that was such a sweet compliment. I'll be treasuring that one. He also told me one of the girls at camp was scared to go down the waterslide, so he held her hand while they went down.

He is so smart, too. He is starting to learn some sight words, and he enjoys doing little pre-k workbook pages. I've been trying to get him to draw every day, but he doesn't really enjoy that. He would prefer a more structured activity book, so we usually do that instead. The other day he was singing a song, "Bonjour, mes amis" and he told me it was "the french song I learned at school." He loves to read and I regret that we haven't had much time to go to the library lately.

Gracie is about the cutest thing I have ever seen. She gives me baby fever (not really, but kind of, except for all the pregnancy part.) She is such a sweetie, she always wants to be held and cuddled (the downside of which is she weighs 20 lbs, doesn't help you hold her up at all, and is starting to hurt my back.) She just wants to be in on the action. She loves being outside, so if someone opens the door she will high-tail it to get out as fast as she can. And she's getting pretty fast at popping up and run/walking to her destination.

She is also such a silly girl. She loves playing silly games like 'peak-a-boo' and chasing. Her favorite game is going up to the mirror and we say, "Get that baby!" and she runs head first into the mirror, and we say, "Not with your head!" and then she cracks up. Like I said, maniacs. But very fun. Behold the evidence of her first split lip. Trying to walk somewhere and didn't quite make it, I guess.

Her nursery teachers say she is always happy unless she is hungry or tired. And goodness, that girl can eat! She eats more than her brother (well, except for her milk cup which she refuses. Will drink water from a cup, will drink milk from a bottle, will not drink milk from a cup. What is that?") She really has the cutest little baby face. People will just come up to me in the store and tell me how beautiful she is, like since she was born. We love all her little faces and expressions. She is also trying to say some animal noises, and it is so cute. She will look at you so intently when you do it and then try to imitate. It doesn't come out quite right, but it's so funny to hear her try to figure out how to make her voice sound like yours. She is also becoming a lover of kisses, books, and sweets (just like the rest of us).

Sunday, May 25, 2014

We have officially started our summer fun list over here. Friday was Jonah's last day of school. I'm a little sad because I will miss the Sunshine Room. He had great teachers, great friends, and they had such a fun curriculum. He had a great last week and next week he's starting summer camp.

Today we had a great day to kickoff summer. We went to the cool zoo this morning. Gracie loooooved it! She had a huge grin on her face the whole time. After nap we went to the Greek Festival. They have delicious food, a bounce house, and a nice place to sit by the bayou. We ran into some friends and got to hang out while we were there. It was a great day.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Oh my word, I cannot even express the emotions about your birthday. I'm so happy for you, and so excited to see you grow. You are getting sooooo cute and so fun. But I'm also sad that you aren't a baby anymore. I loved your little baby self, but I also LOVE your cute, sweet, funny, big-girl self. It's bittersweet at it's best.

I love how every time you let go and start walking on your own everyone gets so excited!

I love how you lean in and say "BAH!" to get kisses.

I love when you and your brother start giggling together. You might be his biggest fan, which he doesn't appreciate yet.

I love when you start dancing. Girl, you got moves. :)

I love snuggling with you.

I love your new haircut. I miss the baby hair, but the new bob is the cutest. You look like a doll.

I love that you are starting to say a few words, including "more (BO), mama (Baba), dada, and bye-bye).

I love that you are finally sleeping through the night!!! (Really, I really love you for that)

I love that you are only nursing 2-3 times a day now.

I love that you are so inquisitive, so much that we can't take our eyes off you for one minute or you will be eating dog food, crawling up the stairs, playing in the toilet, or climbing in the shower. Whenever it gets too quiet, we start to get worried.

I love when you carry around shoes, trains, blocks, remote controls, or paci's and lose them all over the house.

I love that you are so adventurous. You will fit in well with this family.

I love that you are wild, dramatic, and full of life. I can't wait to see what you do with that passion in your life.

Today I had a great mother's day. Several moments of pure joy at being a mom. Several moments of just not being able to stop laughing, like crying I was laughing so hard, with my kids. Man, that's what it's about. Thanks JM and CG for making me a mom.

Monday, April 28, 2014

These two. They are out of control, extremely loud, always driving me crazy, always making me fall in love with them every day. We are in a really sweet, special, awesome, crazy, exhausting, sleep-deprived stage of life. I don't think you can really understand unless you are in the same place.

Charlotte Grace is almost a year old. She is crawling, climbing, and cruising everywhere and she just started taking a couple of steps. We think she may be walking in the next few weeks! I'm ready because she is probably coming up on 20 pounds and is getting too heavy to carry all over the place. She tries to imitate a couple of words: she says "MO" and does the sign language for 'more' at the table, she tries to say mama, dada, and bye. She has always been very even-tempered, but has recently started becoming dramatic! If Jonah takes her toy or if she doesn't get something she wants she throws herself backwards. She is also starting to get some seperation anxiety. She is a Mommy's girl. She is very active and loves to play rough (especially with her brother), but when there's a lot going on she likes to sit back and observe. People think she is quiet until they see her in a smaller setting. Introvert problems. She likes to play with a lot of boy toys (trains, blocks, and swords) becuase that is what she sees her brother doing. I tried to give her a doll but she didn't really care too much. She loves to play with her brother, which usually consists of her tearing up his train tracks and him screaming about it. Good times. She LOVES to eat. I'm still nursing her, but we are working on weaning to the cup. We are both sort of ready and sort of not :) She still is not a great sleeper, but she will usually make it until about 3 or 4 am before waking me up.

Jonah is 3 and a half. Just ask him. People say 3 is rough, but I actually love 3. It has been a year full of learning, sweet hugs and kisses, and making friends. We can logic with him a lot more than we used to, although he can do the same to us now. We have stopped asking him "Where did you learn that?" because he is just putting things together all on his own all the time. He loves school, and his classmates love him. They fight over who gets to play with him. It always surprises me how popular he is. I'm sure that won't always be the case for him, but it's sweet to know that everyone enjoys his company right now. Jonah is so funny and silly, which I blame that he gets from Ted. He is also super smart (which he clearly gets from me.) He can count with meaning to 29 and can count to 100 with a little help. He is able to do simple math, patterns, and knows most of his letter sounds. He loves to ride his bike, play race cars, jump on the trampoline, play with his friends, and play video games (yuck to that one). He is a super helper with his baby sister. Our struggle right now is he sometimes has a rude attitude. Where do kids learn this nasty tone? He really is a great kid so I know we will get past it. He is very empathetic, which has been one of his greatest strength.

My kids just had to watch TV for 20 minutes so I could write this, but at least it's documented for my future bad memory. Thanks Peg+Cat.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Dear Charlotte Grace,
Right now it feels like you are so much a part of our family that I could never forget you being a baby. But the truth is, I can barely remember Jonah being a little baby so I know I need to record your baby self or I will forget. It's so hard to fit it in, but here goes my attempt:
Please know that I freaking love your whole little self. You are so cute, sweet, and fun. Everyone just loves being around you, (especially your brother, and I hope that is always true.)
You are almost 9 months old! I don't know how much you weigh because we didn't have to go to the pediatrician last month. You have 2 teeth on the bottom and two on the top coming in. You recently started scooting around on your tummy, but no crawling yet. You also love to stand up, especially at your play table. You love to feed yourself and you are eating mostly table foods. You love blueberries, broccoli, sweet potatoes, and any crackers.
You are the sweetest little girl and are always in a good mood. You will let anyone hold you. You are even sleeping better at night! (FINALLY!) You wake me up once to feed you usually, and then go back to sleep. Girl, I can handle that. Your laugh is infectious and we think you are so pretty.
You have been babbling a lot and it is so cute. You might just talk as much as your brother (heaven help us.)
I can't wait to see the little girl you become, although I love your little baby self right now. Thanks for being such a sweet, mellow baby.

About Me

Ted and I were married on May 14, 2005. We spent 5 years traveling, working, eating in the city with the best food ever, and generally doing whatever we wanted. We welcomed our amazing son to the world July 10, 2010 and now life has changed for the better. This is an account of our adventures together so our many family and friends that live out of town can keep track of how Jonah is doing. But you should still call me on the phone, too.